Improvement in boots and shoes



UNITED STATES terrien.

PATENT AND ELMER TOWNSEND.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent Nic. 63,569, dated April 2,1867.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, T.- BRIGGs SMITH, of the city of Boston, in theState of Massachusetts, have invented a Twisted Polygonal Metallic Pegor Fastening 5 and I do hereby declare the following to be a full andcorrect description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1v represents a shoe-sole formed of twopieces of leather united by my improved peg. Fig. 2 represents ends ofleather belting united in the same manner; Fig. 3, apiece of hose-pipethe seam of which is fastened by said peg; Fig. 4, a piece of triangularwire; Fig. 5, a cross-section of the same; Fig. 6, the same wiretwisted; Fig. 7, apiece of diamondshaped wire; Fig. S, a cross-sectionof the same; Fig. 9, the same wire twisted.

The nature of this invention consists inthe formation, from twisted`polygonal metallic wire, of a screw-peg or fastening, applicable toattaching together pieces of leather, or of woven, felted, or laidfabrics, said pegs being mainly intended as a substitute for those atpresent employed in the pegging of boots and shoes.

The superior durability of a metallic fastening over pegs ofwoodissuiiiciently obvious, and the value of the screw in uniting leather inthe manufacture of boots and shoes has been recognized and demonstratedin France, where it is employed in the ordinary form, each screw beingdriven in by a screw-driver by hand-labor, and filed domi even with thesurface' of the leather. This method is very slow and expensive, andinapplicable to the machine-pegging, which is now the prevailing mode ofmanufacture in this country; but the boots .and shoes produced by it aregreatly superior in durability to those made in any other way. It is myaim, in the present invention, to produce a metallic peg and the screw,while it is capable of being driven, in the ordinary way, by machineryand by hand.

To eut a screw-thread on a continuous length of wire, and afterward cut-it into lengths for pegs, was found too expensive for practical use,and it was to overcome this difficulty that I devised the inode which isthe subject of the present application.

I obtain the effect of a sharp screw-thread of any desired pitch byimparting a twist of any desired degree to a polygonal wire. This I doby means of a machine for which I have made an application, of even dateherewith, for Letters Patent. The wire thus twisted is cut into theproper lengths for pegs, and the pegs thus produced are found to becapable of use in the ordinary pegging-machines, as well as of beingdriven by hand, in the usual way. Being started in a hole prepared forit, such a peg turns while it is being driven, and holds the pieceswhich it unites together with the same tenacity as the ordinary screw,and in the same manner.

I have tried various kinds of polygonal wire with success-square,triangular, and diamondshaped in cross-section. My experience thus farleads me to prefer the last-named form, as giving a sharp thread with agood holdin g-surface.

I wish it to be understood that I distinctly disclaim a nail cut orstamped from sheet metal, and twisted at the point, such as is describedin the patent of Stephen IV. Baldwin, dated September 27,1864.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

A peg or fastening, of uniform size throughout its length, formed fromtwisted angular wire, substantially as hereinbefore described and shown.

The above specification of my said invention signed and witnessed, atBoston, this 18th day of June, 1866.v peg which shall unite theadvantages of the `T. BRIGGS SMITH.

Witnesses Grills. F. STANsBURY, GHAUNGEY SMITH.

